page_title: Washington State Route 99
section_title: Replacement and redesignation
hierarchical_section_title: Washington State Route 99 / History / Replacement and redesignation
caption_attribution_description: Washington
context_page_description: State Route 99, also known as the Pacific Highway, is a state highway in the Seattle metropolitan area, part of the U.S. state of Washington. It runs 49 miles from Fife in the south to Everett in the north, passing through the cities of Federal Way, SeaTac, Seattle, Shoreline, and Lynnwood. The route primarily follows arterial streets but has several freeway segments, including the SR 99 Tunnel in Downtown Seattle. SR 99 was officially named the William P. Stewart Memorial Highway by the state legislature in 2016, after a campaign to replace an unofficial moniker honoring Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
  SR 99 was originally a section of U.S. Route 99, which was once the state's primary north–south highway. US 99 was created in 1926 and replaced earlier local roads that date back to the 1890s and state roads designated as early as 1913. The highway was moved onto the Alaskan Way Viaduct in 1953, replacing a congested stretch through Downtown Seattle, and other sections were built to expressway standards in the 1950s.
  US 99 was ultimately replaced by the Tacoma–Everett section of Interstate 5, which opened in stages between 1965 and 1969.
context_section_description: The state legislature authorized planning of a tolled expressway from Tacoma to Everett in 1953, with the intent of building a grade-separated bypass of US 99. The tollway plan was superseded three years later by the Interstate Highway Program, which was authorized by the federal government and included a north–south freeway through the Seattle area replacing US 99. The route was designated as Interstate 5 in 1957 and planning for the Seattle Freeway began at the same time using federal funds.
  The first section of the Tacoma–Seattle–Everett freeway to be built was in southern Tacoma and was opened to traffic in October 1959. The Tacoma sections opened in October 1962 from the Puyallup River to the Kent–Des Moines Road in Midway, and in October 1964 in downtown Tacoma. Construction of the Seattle section began in 1958 with work on the Ship Canal Bridge, which was opened to traffic on December 18, 1962. The northern approach to Downtown Seattle was opened the following August to coincide with the completion of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge and SR 520. A 20-mile (32 km) section of the freeway traveling from North Seattle to southern Snohomish County and Everett was opened to traffic on February 3, 1965. The freeway connecting Midway to the south side of Downtown Seattle was opened on January 31, 1967, completing the final section of the urban freeway. I-5 itself was completed two years later with the opening of the section between Everett and Marysville on May 14, 1969.
  The state government introduced a new highway numbering system in 1964 to align with the Interstates and prepare for the decommissioning of U.S. routes. PSH 1 was replaced with US 99, which remained as a temporary designation on various freeway sections until I-5 was fully completed. US 99 was decommissioned at a meeting of the American Association of State Highway Officials on June 24, 1969, shortly after the full completion of I-5 within Washington state. While most US 99 signs were removed, an overhead sign in Downtown Seattle at the Columbia Street onramp to the Alaskan Way Viaduct remained until the viaduct was demolished in 2019.
  During the 1970 codification of the new highway system, the state legislature created State Route 99 (SR 99) to delay transferring ownership and maintenance of the highway to local jurisdictions. SR 99 was created from a section of US 99 running from Fife to the Broadway Interchange in Everett, and was retained as a permanent addition to the state highway system in 1971 due to the corridor's importance to state affairs. A provision in the 1971 law allows for the abandonment of the Fife–Federal Way section of SR 99 after the completion of the SR 509 freeway extension. Instead of continuing north into Everett on Evergreen Way, SR 99 was routed northeasterly on Everett Mall Way, a section of the Broadway Cut-off (also named Diagonal Way) that opened in 1954.
caption: A US 99 sign in downtown Seattle, which remained above the Columbia Street onramp to the Alaskan Way Viaduct until its removal in 2019
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX L840", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX L840V1.0", "Image DateTime": "2017:05:19 19:37:10", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "230", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "58384", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2986", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/80", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "125", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:05:19 19:37:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:05:19 19:37:10", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-7/10", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "16/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "161/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "58354", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "91", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}